Ride by Cat Johnson Page A

purpose.
    Leesa sighed. They’d straighten it all out. Until then she’d get to see Oklahoma and get out of Vegas with her life intact. Chase didn’t seem to be complaining about the surprise nuptials. They’d just both have to make the best of it.
    With that thought firmly in place, she pulled on the last of her clothing and opened the bathroom door. A burst of steam preceded her into the bedroom where she found Chase balling up his clothes and shoving them into his bag. Resisting the urge to go over and fold them neatly for him, Leesa went to her own bag and put her neatly stacked pile of yesterday’s clothes into it.
    “I figure we’ll pack, grab something to eat, then come up, get our bags and hit the road.”
    Leesa stopped zipping her bag midway. “Um, do you think we could get on the road first, and then stop at a truck stop or something and get breakfast to go? Maybe egg sandwiches? Something easy to eat in the truck.”
    He looked at her with surprise then smiled. “You are determined not to let me buy you a decent meal in a real restaurant, aren’t you?”
    “No. That’s not it—”
    “I have money you know, if that’s what you’re worried about. I know I haven’t been riding my best this year, but I’ve still done good. I can afford to buy you a nice meal. I promise.”
    Again, she wasn’t sure exactly how he earned money riding bulls, or how much one could earn doing that, but she supposed during the long trip together she had plenty of time to find out. “I believe you, Chase. You can buy me a meal when we get where we’re going. For right now, I’m kind of anxious to get on the road.”
    He seemed to look too deeply into her, the way he had a habit of doing. Though maybe it was her own guilt about hiding things from him and using him to escape that made her feel that way. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. We can get on the road first and stop later. No problem.”
    She nodded, happy he’d agreed so easily but still feeling like she needed an explanation to cover herself. “Thanks. It’s just I think I’ve had enough of this town for a while. You know? I’m anxious to get away. Start my vacation.”
    Again, he watched her. “Understood. I’m warning you though, Oklahoma isn’t exactly the vacation capital of the world. My hometown’s got a few thousand people in it and that’s it. The highlight of the town was when the diner decided to stay open until eleven at night on weekends. We’ve got a movie theater that shows one movie at a time, not ten like the ones they have in the cities. And if you want to go shopping at a real mall, you have to take a road trip and make a day out of it.”
    Leesa laughed. “It sounds perfect to me.” Funny thing was she meant every word.
    He looked at her strangely again, laughing himself. “All right. If you say so.” Chase glanced around the room. “Is that everything?”
    Smothering her guilt, she thought she felt her cheeks heat. Leesa shook her head. “Your razor is still on the sink in the bathroom.”
    “That’s Garret’s, but thanks anyway.”
    “Oh.” Now she felt really bad for using it. Chase grabbed both his bag and hers and moved toward the door. As she glanced back at the room, still strewn with Garret’s stuff, it killed Leesa not to do her usual hotel room check, pulling out every drawer in both the dresser and night stand, kneeling down to look under the bed for socks or shoes that may have gotten kicked underneath. “Um, don’t you want to check one more time in case you left anything?”
    And she’d told Chase she was the kind of girl to go with the flow. Yeah right.
    Chase shook his head. “Nah. If I missed anything, Garret will grab it for me. Which reminds me. I should really wake them up next door and tell them I’m leaving.”
    He glanced down at his left hand. “Huh. Maybe not. I think maybe I shouldn’t let them know about what happened.”
    “I think you’re right. You have the um…paperwork. Right? Your